Jose Mari Chan was born
and raised in Iloilo City. While still in elementary school, he worked as
a radio deejay on weekends. He had a natural talent for music which was further
honed during his high school days at St. Clement's in Iloilo where he learned
about rhyme and meter. He also perfected his English there, thanks to his
participation in dramatics and to the Irish priests who exposed the students
to the works of great English writers and poets. He majored in Economics
at Ateneo de Manila University but still found time for music, writing songs
and performing in a combo. He also emceed local concerts at other universities
and soon received an offer to be an emcee on ABS-CBN's youth-oriented
"Nineteeners" show.
Besides emceeing he also
got the chance to sing some of his songs on TV. Before long he received an
offer to record his composition "Afterglow" as a 45 RPM single. The success
of this song attracted the attention of Dyna Records, which soon released
a full 12-cut album of Joe Mari's music. The title single, the now-classic
"Deep in My Heart," was a number one hit all over the Philippines in 1968.
In 1970 he married Mary
Ann Ansaldo and for the first year of their marriage the couple worked
as
missionaries in Japan. Three years later they got the chance to revisit Japan
when Joe Mari's song "Can We Stop and Talk Awhile" was selected as the Philippine
entry to an international music festival held in Tokyo. The song became a
big hit for him back home and led to his being offered his first TV special.
In the 1970s he also composed music scores for the movies of many of the
Philippines' top directors, a taxing job which did not pay very well.
In addition to his music
career Joe Mari also worked for his father at the family's large sugar company.
In 1972 when martial law was declared by President Ferdinand Marcos, the
sugar industry became a government monopoly and the elder Chan advised his
son to try the business out in the US, since they could no longer trade in
their own country. So the family relocated to New York where they stayed
for eleven years, returning home each July and August.
After the Marcoses were
forced out, Joe decided to move his family back home. With the sugar industry
having been returned to the private sector by President Corazon Aquino, he
was assigned to run a sugar central recently acquired by his family in Negros
Occidental,. At the same time he became more successful than ever with his
music. He released "Christmas in Our Hearts," which became the all-time
best-selling Christmas album in the Philippines. The popular title tune,
a duet with daughter Liza, won the Awit Trophy for Best Christmas Recording,
an honor he would receive again several years later for "Christmas Past."
In the early 1990s Jose's
album "Constant Change" was released, and became a runaway bestseller. It
contained several big hits including "Beautiful Girl," "Can't We Start Over
Again," "Please Be Careful With My Heart" (duet with Regine Velaquez), "My
Girl, My Woman, My Friend" (duet with Janet Basco) and the title song. Some
os the songs became hits in other Asian countries like Indonesia, Singapore
and Malaysia. His next album, "Souvenirs" was a departure from his usual
fare in that it mostly featured renditions of favorite songs written by other
composers, from Glenn Miller to Burt Bacharach to Neil Sedaka.
In 2000 Jose Mari Chan released
"Words and Music," a songbook containing the lyrics, guitar chords and piano
music for 21 of his best-loved compositions, plus the story behind each song.
His hope is that putting the music down on paper will enable his songs to
be enjoyed by future generations. "The hope of every composer is for his
songs to outlive him and to be sung long after he's gone," he said. The book
was very well-received and in 2003 a second volume was released, with 24
more songs.
His latest album, "A Heart's
Journey," won the 2003 Awit Award for Album of the Year. The songs have a
recurrent theme of love won and lost. Joe Mari's introduction on the album
liner notes says, "In this album, I take you down the winding path of a heart's
journey. From love's first awakening to the joy of young love, from the thrill
of romance to the pain of love lost, all in a heart's journey." Among the
highlights: the catchy carrier single "Easier Said Than Done," "A Day in
the Life of a Song," which is a new composition that uses titles of Beatle
songs, and two versions of "I Have Found My World In You," one sung by daughter
Liza, the other by Joe himself.
Unfortunately the wonderful
songs of Jose Mari Chan have not yet been discovered by most US music fans
except for Fil-Ams. One can only hope that somewhere along the line, some
studio musician or record producer familiar with Joe Mari's work will introduce
his music to one or more top US recording artists. Surely "Beautiful Girl"
recorded by the likes of Ryan Cabrera or Clay Aiken would climb rapidly up
the charts! Without a doubt, "Christmas Past" or "A Wish on Christmas Night,"
if given airplay on US radio stations during the holiday season, could easily
become Yuletide favorites in America. It would not be hard to imagine Hilary
Duff and a young male costar singing "Please Be Careful with My Heart" to
each other in a contemporary movie. Hopefully someday, these scenarios can
be more than wishful thinking!
 It is now more than 40 years since
Jose Mari Chan wrote his first song. His eleven albums have earned him, at
last count, 37 platinum and two diamond awards, plus many other honors. He
has given concerts all over the world, entertaining Filipinos everywhere
with his gentle voice, tuneful melodies, and simple but heartfelt lyrics
that the average person can easily identify with. His songs have been performed
by almost every top artist in the Philippines as well as by artists in Hong
Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and other countries. He continues to be a
successful entrepreneur in the sugar industry and, more recently, in the
hotel business. Yet with all he has accomplished, he remains humble and
unassuming, a devoted family man with a strong religious faith. He believes
that his music is a gift from God. In the foreword of his Words and Music
songbook, Vol. 1, he writes, "It is God who makes the music. Because of this,
I cannot lay claim to have 'created' the songs just as I cannot lay claim
to have given the breath of life of any of my children. Each child is unique
and important just as each song is special and distinct. The songs were born
out of different circumstances, created out of different inspiration and
each one bears a different fruit."
Joe Mari and four of his
five children recently returned from Japan where they gave a series of concerts
to benefit the Filipino-Japanese Youth Foundation. The family combo featured
son Joe on bass and Michael on piano, with Franco playing the guitar in addition
to singing with Liza and their father.
Check our
Carousel Pinoy Events
Page from time to time to see if Jose Mari Chan has any upcoming concerts
in the US or Canada!
Previous Caroustars: JANUARY
2005:
PATRICIA
JAVIER • DECEMBER 2004:
RICO
J. PUNO • NOVEMBER 2004:
PIOLO
PASCUAL • OCTOBER 2004:
GARY
V • SEPTEMBER 2004:
AIZA
SEGUERRA • AUGUST 2004:
LANI
MISALUCHA • JULY 2004:
ANDREW
E • JUNE 2004:
LEA
SALONGA • MAY 2004:
JOEY
ALBERT • APRIL 2004:
VINA
MORALES • MARCH 2004:
RICA PERALEJO
• FEBRUARY 2004:
RACHEL
ALEJANDRO • JANUARY 2004:
GENEVA
CRUZ
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